"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Radioactive Iodine and TSH

Holy cow guys, my TSH is 165!!!! Normal range is only up to 5!! And my TSH before the Thyrogen was .04!!! That stuff really works. And I don't feel much of anything. I feel a little tired and I slept for about 10 hours last night, but other than that, I feel fine. Thank god for this drug.

I went in to Washington Hospital Center yesterday to get my radioactive iodine capsule. Down into the bowels of the hospital basement where the nuclear medicine department is. I saw another thyroid cancer patient with a neck scar like mine. Hers was quite pink and raised and lower on her neck, almost on top of her chest. My scar is almost totally invisible. You can hardly see it. I used Neosporin scar strips for about six months after my surgery and I think they really helped. Plus with my super healthy diet and taking fish oil caps, I think my skin probably heals better than others.

The nurse who gave me the Thyrogen injections told me THE WRONG INSTRUCTIONS about getting my blood work done. I was supposed to have a pregnancy test on MONDAY, but she told me I didn't have to get any blood work done! So I did the blood work yesterday, but I had to sign a waiver yesterday affirming that I was not pregnant before they would give the the RAI. I had a moment of hesitation because I haven't had regular cycles since stopping oral contraceptives last spring. I've only had one period since then. But I was 99.9% sure, so I signed the waiver and swallowed the little gray pill. (My blood work from yesterday confirmed that I am NOT pregnant.) They bring the RAI out from a vault in a little steel vial. I took a swig of water and down the hatch! I felt anxious and weird, but not because of the RAI.

So now if there are any cancer cells left in my body they have absorbed the RAI and will show up on my scan tomorrow. I really feel like I'm going to have a clean scan, but I'm still anxious about it. Going back to the hospital and going through all this again, I'm reliving going through it the first time. All the fear and anxiety comes back and I can vividly remember the experience.

That, and my salivary gland on the left side keeps getting worse, maybe even because of having to take more RAI. I'm pretty worried about it. I'm going to see the ENT on Monday, I just hope I don't have to have another surgery or anything like that.

Today is my last day on the low iodine diet, YAY! Tomorrow I get to have yogurt and fish and whey protein and my multivitamins and sea salt and chocolate and I don't have to eat egg whites and chicken ANY MORE!!!

I'm just hanging around being radioactive today, it's kind of nice to have a day off. Except I can't go to the gym... can't be sweating radioactive goo all over the equipment. Everyone think good thoughts and CLEAN SCAN tomorrow!!